Call of Duty 3

If call of Duty 3 is any indication, there's plenty of ammo left in World War II shooters. New single and multiplayer hands on!

"We want to take things to a whole new level."

If there was one recurring theme in our recent visit to see Call of Duty 3 at Activision's office in sunny southern California, that was it. The third installment of the insanely popular World War II shooter looks to outshine its predecessors in a number of ways. Considering the success and wide acclaim of Call of Duty 2 on Xbox 360, Developer Treyarch, that with Call of Duty 3 takes the series' reigns away from Infinity Ward, definitely has an uphill battle ahead.

Being the first Call of Duty game to simultaneously hit the Xbox 360 and PS3, Treyarch is not only pushing the gameplay boundaries of the series, but the visual ones as well. Call of Duty 3 will sport entirely new environments, and in general, everything is looking sharper and crisper than it did last time. It even upped the ante in smaller areas like implementing active foliage and spiffing up explosion colors for that extra level of detail.

COD3 will expand upon the dynamic, open battlefield approach utilized in Big Red One by adding multiple pathways that feature side objectives. Executive Producer Marcus Iremonger explains, "We wanted to bring players even closer to the fury of combat, the chaos of battle." As an example, take one moment during the level called "The Island" (set in the flooded swamps near St. Germaine-sur-Seves in Normandy). If you go right, you must take out a machine gun nest. Going left leads to an enemy tank.

What makes this different from other multi-path games is that while you're busy with the tank, other soldiers from your squadron will take out the machine gun. You may even get to see them in action.

The game also adds some new gameplay mechanics, which the designers are calling Battle Actions. "We wanted to interject more gameplay into actions people are used to performing," explains Luyties. "So when you come around a corner, a German solider might grab you, and you now have to fight him off [by alternately pressing the right and left trigger buttons]."

Similarly, planting explosives now involves following onscreen button prompts and analog stick movements that recall the special moves of Resident Evil 4 and the lock picking of Splinter Cell-not easy when bullets are whizzing past your head.

They've also added crates and other objects that you and your enemies can duck behind for cover. Just don't get comfortable, since these barricades can be taken out with grenades or a couple good gun blasts.

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